Columbus Day… reconsidered…

While I’m grateful to have the day off, I really have to wonder when Columbus Day will become passe. I mean, after all, look at 1) why Columbus Day was started in the first place, and 2) what we’ve discovered in historical research that may question why we celebrate the day at all. I know some who think we should even begin to recognize Leif Ericson more than Columbus!

O.k., but, really, what are the roots for Columbus Day? Here’s the leading paragraph in Wikipedia regarding the History of Columbus Day…

Columbus Day first became an official state holiday in Colorado in 1906, and became a federal holiday in 1937. However, people have celebrated Columbus’s voyage since the colonial period. In 1792, New York City and other U.S. cities celebrated the 300th anniversary of his landing in the New World. In 1892, President Benjamin Harrison called upon the people of the United States to celebrate Columbus Day on the 400th anniversary of the event. During the four hundredth anniversary, in 1892, teachers, preachers, poets and politicians used Columbus Day rituals to teach ideals of patriotism. These patriotic rituals were framed around themes such as support for war, citizenship boundaries, the importance of loyalty to the nation, and celebrating social progress

Hmmm.

Here’s the thing. The United States… well, at least the 13 original colonies… were English, and of course, included a smattering of other western European cultures that often found themselves at odds with the Spanish and Portuguese. Yes, in some ways, I suppose Columbus mattered to these people in the original 13, in the long run (and, perhaps, only in retrospect), because he marks a critical point in what became the “colonization race” that eventually led to what became the United States… although, I think it’s a long reach to recognize CC. He was a critical element in triggering it all, but, really, to the English, his “discovery” signaled the beginning of the race to wrench what they could from the Spanish, in order to get a piece of the pie… and, to say nothing of the veritable holy war for dominance in the new world between Catholicism and Protestantism. Then, if we consider the beginning of the end for Native American populations… geez… this guy Columbus was just the beginning of all sorts of hate and discontent! Granted, if it wasn’t him, it would have been somebody else.

Also, I have to say, I’m a bit bent out of shape over how Columbus Day was used in 1892… “to teach ideals of patriotism. These patriotic rituals were framed around themes such as support for war, citizenship boundaries, the importance of loyalty to the nation, and celebrating social progress.” Really?! I just don’t see these sort of connections with Christopher Columbus. How did they see, in Columbus, a focal point for patriotism? And, as far as that “support for war” things goes… that’s just funny when we consider the man at the center of it all (and even funnier when we consider the war that would soon follow, in 1898). After all, Columbus represents what became part of the “other side” (considered, of course, from the perspective of the original 13 colonies) in a series of European struggles for dominance in the “new world”, which may well have turned out differently… with no United States of America, at the end of it all. Not to mention, his discovery marked (as mentioned above) the beginning of the end for Native Americans, and eventually lead to a slave industry that did nothing but expand (and not by trade alone) for the next 350+ years (I added the “+” because African slavery didn’t end in the Americas, with the end of the American Civil War).

So, really, do we have reason to thank… and/or recognize Columbus, or should we begin to reconsider the meaning of the day, in relation to the history of the United States? Should there, instead, be a “Discovers’ Day”, or a “Discovery Day”? Jokingly, this morning, I started off by greeting friend on Facebook with a “Happy Christopher Newport Day!”… and, for those who are Shenandoah Valley-centric… “Happy Franz Louis Michel Day!” Keep in mind the reasons why Columbus Day was recognized over the past, and not the way that you may see it, from personal perspective today. OR… is Columbus Day just another day off, in yet another series of holidays with shallow or no meaning at all… other than the sale down at the mall?

Very well-articulated, Robert. I think you bring up some excellent points. Definitely food for thought.

Honestly, I think Columbus Day has already become passé–James Madison University, for example, does not even observe the holiday and it is an institution that values education (obviously). It’s interesting when you realize retrospectively that people in the past used history to manipulate public sentiment and reshape public perception. What better way to embrace certain values than to tie it to patriotism? Isn’t it funny how little things have changed over the years!? Regardless of the reasons why this holiday was started, I think you bring up an interesting question about cultural traditions. I think traditions eventually lose their significance. Don’t you? People no longer know or care why they celebrate the holidays that they do. It’s just another excuse to be off work and attend a barbeque.

On another note, do you think it’s strange that we celebrate Columbus Day (as in “Discovery Day”) versus something like “William Bradford Day” (as in “Founders Day”)? Why do we honor the discovery instead of the settlement of our nation?

I do believe that many of our patriotic-centered holidays have lost their meaning, and are drowned-out by matters of entertainment involving self-indulgence, to include food and sales.

“People no longer know or care why they celebrate the holidays that they do. It’s just another excuse to be off work and attend a barbeque.”

I especially have problems with the lost meaning of Memorial Day, but also find it more a matter of convenience, than an opportunity for patriotic reflections, when we consider how Washington’s and Lincoln’s birthdays were turned into the singular “Presidents’ Day.”

It’s interesting, but even the idea of “settlement days” raise issues in which a clash of cultures is represented. Even a comparison of the Plymouth colony to Jamestown brings about a difference in cultures… and, really, which one we should truly recognize, over the other? Tradition has us recognizing Plymouth, and perhaps, for the fact that it represented a struggle for religious freedom over plantation colonialism, it is best… even though Plymouth came later (and me being descended from third wave Jamestown settlers).

Even considering the problems that present themselves in these holidays, when pertaining to culture and ethnicity, where would we be, now, if the discoveries and settlements failed? We should still, I think, recognize the accomplishment, but be aware of the costs involved, in both sides of such ordeals. That can be a difficult balance to play, but, we should measure those things, for improving our outlook on advances into the future, and not remain bitter for what has already been done. Of course, I guess that’s easy for me to say, one (me) who is primarily descended from western Europeans.

As I write, I’m less than a mile from a camp that was kept by the Amerindians. Yes, there were many battles and shifts in territory and inter-marriages among clans and alliances of Amerindians (just as there were in Scotland and Ireland right up to the 1700s). They’ve rebuilt a replica of the council lodge, based on archaeology (took them 2 tries as modern codes require pressure-treated wood for such structures today and the first one was quickly attacked by nature as it were), and they have lectures about the ball game that was allegedly used to resolve personal and property disputes. De Soto spent a ThanksGiving-Christmas season on the spot, and there was a Spanish mission which building they have also tried to replicate. Various religious relics, most crude but a few amazingly fine have been discovered at the site.

Yes, there were also significant differences between the Roanoke Island colony and JamesTown. Oh, boy, and then we could get into the St. Augustine and Chesapeake Spanish settlements and missions and the related conflicts, and whether the first Amerindians got here 12K years ago (at least) or 24K (fairly possible) or 60K (per a National Geographic DNA work-up a few years back; not likely, but…).

I can see the people around Hampton Roads celebrating “Christopher Newport Day”, and maybe those on the barrier islands “sir Humphrey Gilbert Day”, “Walter Ralegh Day” or “Manteo Day” or “Philip Amadas Day” or “sir Richard Grenville Day” or “John White Day” or “Wingina/Complaisant One Day / Pemisapan/He Supervises Day” or “Granganimeo/He Restrains from Ridicule Day” or “Philip Amadas Day” or “Ralph Lane Day”… leaving the choice and details to them (though my favorites are Lane and Manteo). Especially for centennials and such.

Franz Louis Michel was an early explorer of the Valley. Perhaps I should write something about him in a post, after all, I’ve got an urge to write a few more pieces about the colonial era in the Valley. I also should have mentioned John Lederer. He might be a bit more familiar to you.